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East Hill

Hillfort

<b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMANImage © Robert Gladstone
Nearest Town:Okehampton (2km WNW)
OS Ref (GB):   SX604941 / Sheet: 191
Latitude:50° 43' 44.82" N
Longitude:   3° 58' 41.66" W

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<b>East Hill</b>Posted by juamei <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN <b>East Hill</b>Posted by GLADMAN

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Dartmoor National Park Authority

The rampart on East Hill stands 3 metres high in places and has a wide, flat-bottomed, ditch on the outside. East Hill is properly termed a promontory fort, rather than a hill fort, having been built at the end of the East Hill ridge to take advantage of the natural defences provided on two sides by the steep wooded slopes above the East Okement River and the Moor Brook.

East Hill Iron Age fort lies on moorland south east of Okehampton and can be approached from a number of directions using public rights of way.

Hill forts are characteristic of the middle and later Iron Age (500BC - AD 50) and are seen to be the fortified settlements of the Celtic people. At least 12 hill forts survive on Dartmoor. East Hill fort is at grid reference SX 604 941.

Records show that East Hill fort was examined by the Reverend H G Fothergill in 1840. One hundred years later John Brailsford undertook a very small-scale excavation on the central entrance which divides the rampart in two. He found that the end of the rampart was neatly faced with eleven courses of small slabs and there appeared to be a palisaded trench forming a passage into the entrance. No other finds were recorded. A nearby outcrop of rock is known locally as 'Roman Chair'. This name possibly arises from the 19th century discovery of a horde of 200 Roman coins in the East Hill Area.
Posted by phil
7th December 2003ce